Fitness Level, but not Sex, affects Exercise-Induced Pain Modulation

Abstract

In a previous study by our group (Nold et al., 2025), we investigated exercise-induced pain modulation after high-intensity compared to low-intensity exercise in a heterogeneous sample of diverse fitness levels. Exploratory analyses suggested an interaction of sex, fitness level, and drug treatment, indicating that males showed increasing hypoalgesia after high- compared to low-intensity exercise with increasing fitness levels, which was diminished when naloxone was administered. In contrast, these effects were not evident in females. These exploratory findings warranted further investigation to determine if and to what extent exercise-induced pain modulation depends on fitness level and/or sex. In this current study, we investigated an all-female sample (N = 21) of high fitness levels using a similar paradigm as in the previous study, comparing heat and pressure pain ratings after high-intensity and low-intensity exercise. Our data show an interaction of exercise intensity and stimulus intensity in heat pain, with greater pain relief following high-intensity exercise, especially at the highest stimulus intensity. Despite results for pressure pain not reaching significance, a similar trend was evident. These results suggest that females at a high fitness level also show exercise-induced pain modulation for high-intensity compared to low-intensity exercise. Furthermore, we pooled the data of the current and previous study, providing evidence for fitness level but not sex to moderate exercise-induced pain modulation in heat pain. These findings suggest that exercise-induced pain modulation depends on fitness level but not on sex.